The distinctive landscape of Wellesley College inspired this collaboration between Michael Singer and architect, Michael McKinnell. The two-acre site on the extensive, beautifully landscaped campus is located along a pathway that winds through a wooded area on one side of Lake Waban. The journey through the landscape is part of the experience of this permanently-sited work, offering an alternative approach to traditional notions of public art which is usually placed in an urban context. Singer and McKinnell defined the site with low stone walls that serve as both threshold and boundary referring to the abandoned stone walls and foundations found throughout New England's reforested woods. The sculptural element is sited in a hollow between two small hills in the landscape. Low split-stone slabs and a cut capstone rise two feet above the ground plane and define the upper edge of a chamber that extends four feet below the ground. It contains layers of cut granite and cast bronze. Over one hundred planted indigenous silver beech and red maple trees, along with wild blueberry and ferns, blend into the existing woodland flora. The project was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, LEF Foundation, Davis Museum and Cultural Center, and the Massachusetts Council on the Arts.

Artist: Michael Singer
Architect: Michael McKinnell
Davis Museum and Cultural Center Director:
Susan Taylor
Project Managers:
Sterling McMurrin, Alan Chapman, Bob Hannum
Photography:
David Stansbury, Vern Cheek, and Felice Frankel

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